I've Moved!

Married to Music is now Redhead Records and can be found at http://www.redheadrecords.blogspot.com. Thank you for bearing with me through this change. I'm so excited for my new, improved, expanded blog. I hope you enjoy it!

All of my previous posts under Married to Music have been exported to Redhead Records. No new posts will be made here. See you on the other side!

The Keith Karns Big Band Debut Tour and CD Release

After a little break from blogging, I'm excited to come back with a plug for a friend! Keith Karns is a boss trumpet player and former classmate of mine and Corey's. He is currently based out of the Indianapolis area after graduating with his master's in trumpet performance at Indiana University. He's been busting his butt putting together his big band, recording an album, and planning a tour.

The Keith Karns Big Band plays mostly original works and arrangements by Keith himself. The sound is really contemporary while remaining true to the roots of big band. Not sure if you're into that kind of thing? Give 'em a listen for free! As of last night, you can download the track "Salt Water Rocket" from the band's web site free of charge. The full CD, "Thought and Memory," will be available for download on May 1st. (The CD features other players that are former classmates and colleagues of ours that are great in their own right.)

You can catch the debut tour of the Keith Karns Big Band next month in cities throughout the greater Midwest. (I'm super jealous of Corey. He is going to WI to visit his former comp teacher's class, so he's going to catch the show in Minneapolis.)

I couldn't resist, so I asked Keith to be my second "Musician File" interview. I hope you dig the new feature!

Name: Keith Karns
Age: 27
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Musical occupation: Band leader/composer/trumpeter
Media: www.keithkarnsmusic.com, facebook.com/keithkarnsmusic

What are you working on now that you are really excited about?
I’m really pumped about the CD release and our tour at the beginning of May. The album sounds AWESOME and we had so many talented people work on it so I can’t wait to get that out there. We’re playing some really great venues, but the three that I am most excited about are at Jazz Central in Minneapolis on May 3rd, the State Theater in Eau Claire on May 5th, and the Blue Wisp in Cincinnati on May 13th. I think we’re going to have a great turnout and I’m pumped to get this music out there!

What are you working on now that you are really stressed about?
Getting all of the logistics together for the album release and tour has been pretty intense. A lot goes into planning something like this and that definitely keeps me busy. I have been lucky to have a great team of people helping me out with booking and promotion so that helps a lot. I don’t know what I would do if it were not for them!

What inspires you to keep writing/practicing/playing when you’re going through a rough patch?
I have a pretty strong work ethic, but there are defiantly days when all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately!) the trumpet is a pretty vindictive instrument so if you don’t have a solid practice regimen you really won’t be able to play the horn. Knowing that there are things I have to do on the horn every day regardless of how I feel keeps me coming back to the practice room. When I started writing when I was in college I applied that same kind of discipline to the rest of my creative endeavors and it seems to work out pretty well.

Tell me about your most memorable musical experience as an audience member:
When I was 12 or 13 Ingrid Jensen came through my hometown as a guest artist at the local jazz festival. I had been playing trumpet for a number of years in school, but wasn’t really serious about it. She totally blew my mind. It was the late 90’s and she was doing the post bop thing, playing in and out of the changes, I remember I walked out of that concert speechless. After that I knew I wanted to play like her so I signed up for a summer jazz camp and began take lessons, two things that eventually would lead me to where I am today.

What is your favorite not-music-related pastime?
I love the outdoors. I grew up in Alaska and so hiking and camping was a big part of what we did as a family up there. I don’t get enough of that stuff these days, but whenever I have the chance I try and get out as much as I can.

Would you recommend the last book or article you read to someone else?
I’ve been really into old school detective fiction this year. The two best novels I’ve read recently are Ross MacDonald’s Sleeping Beauty—which is SUPER dark, but a really well crafted story—and Mikey Spillane’s My Gun is Quick—which is so gritty its almost a caricature of the detective genre. I also just finished re-reading Nick Tucker’s “The Duke Ellington Reader” on the life and music of Duke Ellington. I think Tucker’s book is probably the best one out there right now about Duke. He does a great job and it really reveals a lot about Duke and how he ran his band and his compositional process.

Who would you invite if you could have any 6 people, living or dead, over for a dinner party?
I would have to go with Jim McNeely, Maria Schneider, Bob Brookmeyer, Duke Ellington, Doc Severinson and Woody Shaw. We would probably talk about music.

My First and Last Concert at Oakland University

I am shocked and appalled. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed a few sniping comments I made about Oakland University this weekend. Long story short, Corey and I drove over an hour to the north suburbs of Detroit for a concert this weekend. We were met with shoddy directions, a campus that doesn't label street names, a box office phone that is not staffed during performances, and worst of all, music students that don't know how to shut up during a concert.

I was so upset by my experience that I wrote the following e-mail to the chair of the School of Music:

Dear Dr. -------,

I am writing to you because I strongly believe that the behavior I witnessed during a concert at your school needs to be brought to your attention.

Last night, my husband and I drove up from Ann Arbor to attend Alarm Will Sound. The performance was wonderful, but the only word I have for the audience behavior is appalling. Several groups of students in the audience were talking at full volume and noisily shuffling papers throughout the entire concert. I and other audience members had to ask these groups to be quiet several times during the performance.

Being a former music student myself, I understand that it is sometimes necessary to take notes during a concert, but the level of noise and distraction present at this concert was inexcusably rude and unacceptable. From some of the conversations that I overheard (during the second movement of John Adams' Son of Chamber Symphony, by the way) I could tell that these were actually students of the music school, which I find deeply troubling.

I wanted to make you aware of how poorly your school was represented last night. This level of rudeness and unprofessionalism from a group of young musicians is bewildering. I hope that this is the first and last time you have received a letter like this. I hope that last night's display was a one-time fluke, and I hope that someone apologized to the ensemble.

I am not in any way seeking a refund of my tickets or a personal apology. I simply thought, that as head of the department, that you would want to know that this is going on. I certainly would.

Regards,

Lauren B. Cunningham

I respect the privacy of the chair enough to not reprint her response here, but I can say that after reading it, I am not at all surprised by the students' behavior. After a flippant apology, she proceeded to tell me this sort of disturbance can happen anywhere, and the house has no control over such situations. She attended the concert herself, and could not hear any talking from where she was sitting, so "it must have been more localized" to me "than I realized." The school apparently "invited students from many schools in the area" and "there is no way of knowing where the students I heard were from." Even if they were her students, "undergrads don't always make the best decisions." (I couldn't make this up.)

Also, if I ever encounter this situation again, she advised that I simply move to a different seat. She finished the e-mail expressing her hope that I will return to Oakland University for future concerts. I can assure you, I wont.

As both and musician and a PR professional, I am outraged. The behavior of the students in the audience was rude, but this response is unacceptable. The chair blamed every other entity she could think of, including myself, for the problem, rather than simply taking responsibility, apologizing and assuring it wouldn't happen again. No educator or administrator I've ever met would dream of insulting a patron like this. And let me tell you, if my undergrad received and e-mail like this, we students would have gotten an earful (via a stern departmental e-mail).

This person is responsible for training future musicians and educators, which really troubles me. Doesn't this school teach the taking of responsibility for one's actions? After what I've seen, I sincerely doubt it.

Musician File: Corey Cunningham

I'm excited to announce a new series on M2M: Musician File, brief interviews with musicians at all points in their careers and even hobbyists. I'm excited to learn more about what make these people tick and help friends spread the word about their upcoming projects.

Corey was my guinea pig for the first interview. Let me know what you think! If you have a suggestion for an interview or would like to be interviewed yourself, please contact me at laurenbcunningham@gmail.com!


Name: Corey Cunningham
Age: 25
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Occupation: 1st year composition master’s student, University of Michigan
Twitter: @CunningCoreyham

What are you working on now that you are really excited about?

CC: I’m working on a chamber piece for voice, clarinet, alto sax, harp, and vibraphone. The text was written by my high school friend Michael who is studying comparative lit at Emory University in Atlanta. It’s my first time collaborating with a writer, and only my second time writing for voice. It’s pretty cool.

What are you working on now that you are really dreading/stressed about?

CC: I’m taking a class called “Mavericks and Renegades” that coincides with the San Francisco Symphony’s American Mavericks Festival and the University Musical Society’s “Renegades” concert series. It’s basically a seminar discussion of composers that are considered “mavericks” of their day and a general discussion of what it means to be a maverick. For a final project, I have to do something maverick-y on campus, film it, and present it to the class. I have a vague idea of what I’m going to do, but it was difficult to come up with.

Tell me about your favorite musical experience as an audience member:

CC: A while back the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra did a performance of Berio’s folk songs and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons and some other modern works. It was a great example of how modern music can be presented in a way that gets audiences excited. The response was awesome.

What inspires you to keep writing when you’re going through a rough patch?

CC: For me, the difficult patches are more about motivation than inspiration, really finding the motivation to sit down and write. The inspiration really comes from the fact that I love what I do and I want to do it. Inspiration is rarely the problem.

What is your favorite not-music-related pastime?

CC: Probably watching movies.

Would you recommend the last book or article you read to someone else?

CC: The last book I read was a promotional book put out by the SF Symphony for the American Mavericks Festival about the composers and performers on the series. I read it for class, but it’s a pretty interesting read. I would recommend it if you are into American music.

(You can read the PDF here.)

Who would you invite if you could have any 6 people, living or dead, over for a dinner party?

Russ Feingold, Igor Stravinsky, Molly Ivins, John Coltrane, Tina Fey, Steve Reich

American Mavericks Finale

Today was the final concert of the American Mavericks Festival in Ann Arbor. The San Francisco Symphony and crew has shipped of for NYC for the final leg of performances.

Overall, I really enjoyed the festival. The programs were exciting, a great balance of "older" maverick works (Ives, Cage, Varese) and brand-new pieces (Bates, Adams, Monk). Some of the pieces were "easier" on the audiences than others, some of the new pieces were disappointing, but it was awesome to experience this festival. Click here for the full listing of the Ann Arbor series.

Maverick Highlights:

Concert 1:
I wrote a whole post on this one. I really dug the Mason Bates piece, but the whole program was great.

Concert 2:
Cage's Song Books induced booing from a member of the audience. It was more of a piece of performance art that just a work of music. I can't really do the piece justice in words, so let's just say that Micheal Tilson Thomas made a smoothie onstage. Literally. It was quite an experience.

The 45-minute intermission was ridiculous. I realize that the Cage had a huge set to tear down, but it should have been better organized and the orchestra should not have taken 15 minutes to get situated. Please be considerate of your audience.

The overall consensus for the John Adams commission Absolute Jest was that it was not his best. It was meant to be a piece of Beethoven quotations, but it lost focus about two-thirds of the way through. (Corey is a big fan of Adams, and he was disappointed in the piece.)

Concert 3:
Three pieces by three really interesting dudes. MTT gave a brief description of each before the piece was performed. In short, Ruggles was a small guy with a huge temper, Feldman was a huge guy with a quiet demeanor, and Ives had a great sense of humor. I particularly love Ives' sense of humor in his music. A Concord Symphony plays with Beethoven's 5th, and throws in a whole bunch of other styles, like hymn, ragtime and march. Your local library should have a recording of this, and I highly recommend it.

Concert 4:
All chamber works performed by members of the SF Symphony. My favorite piece was Lukas Foss' Echoi, a heavily improvised piece for piano, cello, clarinet, and percussion. However, the standout piece was Jacob's Room, a monodrama taken from Morton Subotnick's opera of the same name. The piece calls for a single vocalist to play all of the parts and narrate the story. The story was about a boy during the holocaust. The vocalist used extended techniques to add drama and characterize the emotions of the beaten mother and frightened child.

Corey and I feel very lucky to live in a place where we have the opportunity to attend concerts like this. We came from a town where new music was not performed very much, so we try to go to as many concerts as we can. A friend of mine, who is the wife of one of Corey's colleagues, once commented on how "good" I am about attending concerts. She says she would like to go to more but lacks motivation. My response was that the novelty may soon wear off for me, and I will stop attending so much, but I hope not.

The American Mavericks Festival, Concert 1

The San Francisco Symphony is in town presenting the American Mavericks Festival; the first concert last night was awesome.

Prior to the show, Corey had been at the American Orchestra Summit (#orchsummit2012) all day. On our walk from the parking garage to the auditorium, he told me about a panel discussion he attended earlier in the afternoon about how orchestras can better serve their audiences and in turn grow them. Apparently, there was a resounding disapproval by the panelists for social media involvement in audience relations. I find that extremely disappointing. These orchestra managers say they want to gain a broader audience and engage young people, but it seems they are not willing to meet them half way. Corey also noted that there was very little discussion about actual music and new programming.

This conversation was fresh in my mind last night during one of the most engaging concerts I have ever attended. For the first half, the full SF Symphony played Copland's Orchestral Variations and Piano Concerto by Henry Cowell. Conductor extraordinaire Micheal Tilson Thomas introduced each piece and talked about what made them "maverick" works of their times. I really enjoyed his descriptions; they didn't go on too long, told me what to listen for, but didn't give everything away. While the first half of the concert was a solid performance of two impressive works, the second half was much more exciting.

The second half opened with a new work by Mason Bates called Mass Transition. It is a piece for mixed choir, organ, and electronics. The text is taken from a conversation between a mother and daughter via telegraph transmission in the 1920s. The mother was in Holland, the daughter in Java. It was once of the first instances of a long-distance transmission for personal use. At first, I was just enjoying the piece as an interesting text concept and astute use of electronics, when all of a sudden, two soloists stepped out the of choir and sang the parts of the mother and daughter. Unexpectedly, I got really emotional! I didn't expect it, and it was a very fleeting experience, but I was close to actual tears. I always talk about the human element in music being the thing that really draws me in. Mason Bates just made a big fan yesterday.

Another thing I love is percussion music. I am fascinated by the visceral reaction we all have to just loud, driving percussion beats. (I think it's because my dad was in drum corps and I attended competitions while still in utero.)

The last piece on the Thursday night concert was Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra by Lou Harrison. Before they began, MTT said that Harrison was influenced by music from all over the world, and you could tell in this piece. The eight percussionists played a menagerie of instruments from all corners, including some that Harrison himself invented for the piece. You could feel the excitement reverberating from the audience during the silence between movements. The end applause lasted for three bows.

At dinner, Corey and I were discussing the concert and the conference. The concert proved that new, exciting music is much more effective at engaging audiences. I think that these struggling orchestras would meet their goal of gaining a wider audience if they would present music that is more relatable than Bach or Mozart. For example, if you are trying to reach a teenage kid from the inner-city, present music written and played by people who are interested in and influenced by the same types of music that he already likes (hip-hop, rock, R&B, etc.) The music, life and times of Bach is about as far from his realm of experience as one can get.

That doesn't at all mean dumbing down your programs, just broaden your commissions and personnel. Once the kid is hooked by a really high-energy performance, he will be receptive to more "traditional" programming, just one step at a time. From this new composer, take a step back to Phillip Glass, to Copland, to Stravinsky, to Beethoven, to Mozart, and finally, to Bach. This reverse-chronological approach to music appreciation will take that kid just one step further out of his box at a time. I think this gradual transition from the familiar to the unfamiliar would be a much more affective and valuable experience for kids, rather that just making them listen to Mozart "because it's good for them."

I am really excited to attend the rest of the American Mavericks Festival concerts this weekend. I promise the rest of my posts wont be as long or rant-y. :)

Human Music

Hello friends! I've been taking some time off from this blog to work on some other writing projects and drum up some inspiration for new ideas for this one.

What I love the most about music is the human element. Everyone who plays, writes, or loves music has a story of how they formed a relationship with it. I am going out in search of those stories.

In addition to concert reflections, news items, and musical anecdotes, I am going to start featuring interviews with all types of musicians: students, teachers, performers, and appreciators. In this forum I have shared my relationship with music, now I want to share the stories of others like me.

Watch for my first interview coming soon!